The number of mobility-disabled in America is now well over two million of which almost 11/2 million are confined to wheelchairs. Although such persons are health-conscious even simple medical procedures such as weighing themselves can become quite difficult at their residences. Such an ostensibly simple procedure can be in fact quite involved because the weighing device must accommodate the wheelchair, which generally requires ramps and a platform scale. As such wheelchair users ordinarily can only be weighed at a physician's office or clinic with a platform scale, which is rarely more than once a month. Such infrequent weighings renders weight control programs quite difficult to maintain. In addition to those using wheelchairs, often those requiring crutches or walkers must be seated in wheelchairs for weighing as they have difficulty balancing themselves on ordinary scales.
Because of their size platform scales are generally found only in clinics with a significant number of mobility-disabled patients, such as rehabilitation centers. Consequently, physicians rarely have office platform scales, not only because such scales occupy such a disproportionate amount of floor space in relation to their usage, but even with foldable ramps, such scales occupy valuable storage space. Hence, the mobility-disabled must often travel further distances than necessary to equipped clinics for even routine medical treatments inasmuch as such treatments generally includes weight measurements. Although physician's weighing chairs are available with built-in scales, those confined to wheelchairs find it inconvenient and even annoying to have to be transferred from one chair to another and then back for a procedure as routine as weighing.
In terms of those facing this problem the number of the wheelchairs users in America has almost doubled from some 720,000 in 1980 to over 1,400,000 in 1990 during a decade in which the general population had increased only 10%. Moreover, this utilization figure does not take into account users of crutches and walkers, which altogether number well over 2,000,000, most of whom require special aids in weighing.
Not only are the number of wheelchair users increasing, but the largest number of wheelchair users are the elderly, the fastest growing segment of our population. This group should continue to increase faster than the general population for the foreseeable future.